UNIVERSAL CITY >> For an idea of how important the Southern California Golf Hall of Fame induction was to John Cook, you only needed to hear his emotional acceptance speech.

Cook, an 11-time winner on the PGA Tour who still plays out of Virginia Country Club in Long Beach despite living in Florida, choked up several times while accepting an award that meant much to him during Tuesday’s banquet lunch at the Sheraton Universal Hotel.

He said his former swing coach, Ken Venturi, would tell him that he could tell people he was good but others would tell him if he was great.

“I want to thank the SCGA for telling me I was a pretty good player,” Cook said. “... This is truly a great honor.”

Cook learned how to play golf in Southern California. He played in the Rolling Hills Country Club junior program — where Venturi became his coach — and played high school golf at Miraleste in Ranchos Palos Verdes. His star-studded resume is filled with victories at every level. He won the Junior Worlds, California Amateur in 1975, U.S. Amateur in 1978 and an NCAA Team championship with Ohio State in 1979.

He turned professional in 1979 and won his first tournament — the storm-shortened Bing Crosby National Pro-Am two years later. By 1992, he cracked the top 10 in the world rankings. He’s won nine times on the Champions Tour, on which he still plays.

Cook got the desire to win from his father, Jim, he said.

“He taught me to be committed to what you’re doing and prepare harder than anyone else,” Cook said. “He said, ‘Don’t forget, it’s OK to win.’ I love to win. I love to compete. I love to beat people. That’s not a bad thing.”

Cook had surfer-length blonde hair as a teenager and perhaps people underestimated his golf game back then as he took his game and locks to Pebble Beach for the 1975 California Amateur.

“I had long blond hair and it was cold, so I was wearing Corduroys and a long-sleeve T-shirt under my polo shirt,” Cook said. “I probably looked like a raggamuffin. I was a 17-year-old kid. They’re writing articles like (my caddie) and I were sleeping in the back of the car and eating McDonald’s, when actually we were eating in The Tap Room (at Pebble Beach). That was my first taste in the media about how they can embellish things.”

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Cook lives in Orlando and is now part of the media as an analyst for the Golf Channel’s Morning Drive show when he’s not playing golf.

Even though he’s 56, he relates so well to young golfers and has helped tutor Virginia Country Club professional golfers John Merrick — who won the Northern Trust Open in February — John Mallinger, Peter Tomasulu and former UCLA star Patrick Cantlay.

“It’s what was passed down to me from Ken Venturi, the knowledge and wanting to help kids get better,” Cook said. “More life lessons, not just golf lessons. That’s all Ken ever asked me was to pass that down to somebody sometime. It’s a great opportunity at Virginia. It’s what I passed along to my son, who is passing on his knowledge to his students.”

Venturi never charged Cook for lessons, Cook said, and asked only that he would do the same.

Cook’s son, Jason, is a former Pepperdine golfer. Jason works for golf instructor Sean Foley (whose most famous client is Tiger Woods) teaching children.

Cantlay has often said that of all the professional golfers from Virginia, that he has gleaned the most knowledge from Cook.

Jamie Mulligan — Cook’s coach and the CEO at Virginia Country Club — gave Cook’s induction speech, and it was an emotional one.

“He’s won 11 times,” Mulligan said. “Look at how many people have won 11 times on the PGA Tour. That list gets to be pretty narrow. He has nine victories on the Champions Tour. He’s done it in such a class way. I’ve spent so much time with John. He’s so in love with the game. He wants to win more than anybody I know.”